The first article is named ‘Don’t take it out on us’: Some restaurants face abuse over vaccine passports,’ and the second article is ‘Two Prairie provinces, a twin health crisis.’ The genre of both texts is news articles. They aim to convey the information that reveals the particular issue that happened recently. The news article is a type of article, and it is a significant genre in journalism. The first article refers to straight news because it conveys the fact that some restaurants had faced abuse over vaccine passports. The article uses the direct quotations of the restaurant owners, thus making the most of the story based in the first person. The second article is not straight news since it contains the interpretation of the story from different sides. Since it raises a story that is connected with the politicians and their policies, the opinions of numerous figures on the issue were included in the article.
The first article was written by Leslie Young and published by Global News. The second article does not indicate the author, but it is published by Toronto Star. The first article does not have a clear lead, body, and conclusion. It lacks consistency throughout the story; instead, it provides a number of the statements made by different business owners. The second article is more consistent in its structure, and it is constructed from many short paragraphs, including the lead, body, and conclusion. The two news article stories differ, as well as the stylistics. The second story has a more formal tone because it raises a topic concerned with a political issue and the COVID-19 situation. The first article refers to the pandemic situation as well; however, it is more of an informal tone.
The first article is made relying on the claims of the restaurant owners; the story does not mention particular political figures. The second story does mention the political figures and the criticisms of their policies. The first story contains a short hook, and even though it does not follow a clear structure, it does not shift the focus of the story. It starts with the problem that the restaurant owners had faced due to the government pandemic regulations, and it concluded with an emphasis on this problem. The second article, on the other hand, had a shift in focus. The story began with a mention of the Instagram posts made by the politicians and short descriptions of their policies. Towards the body part, the focus shifted to the outcomes of the pandemic and the occurrence of the fourth wave. Towards the concluding part, the focus shifted to the comparison of different politicians’ approaches and some criticism toward it.
Nevertheless, mentioning the Instagram posts at the beginning stands for the hook in the second story. The first story’s hook is one sentence at the beginning of the story that mentions the customer backlash. I think that the subtext of the first story is that the government relied too much on the responsibilities of the private business sector. The article’s evidence is based on references to private business owners. The second story, in contrast, does not have a significant context since it states the facts and the critics’ opinions on the issue directly in the text. The first story concludes with the quotation that claims that the unhappiness of the people should be addressed not to the business owners but the government. The conclusion is justified, and it summarizes the whole content of the story. The second story’s conclusion seems unclear to me because the focus had shifted from the irresponsible policies to the current situation associated with the pandemics.
The language of the first text is slightly humorous since it mentions some stories in the first person. However, it is primarily inflammatory since it summons people to take action, not against the business owners but the government, which shifts too many responsibilities to a private business. The second article’s language is cautionary because it focuses on the difficult situation of the coronavirus, based on morbidity and mortality rates. I think that in both cases, the language choice is justified. Especially the usage of cautionary language is applicable due to the pandemic situation when people need to be aware.
The first article used the image of a business owner, and he looks confused and upset in the photo. I think that it is strengths-based since it evokes the readers’ emotions. The content of the story corresponds to the image. The subtext here is that because of the unhappy customers and non-caring government; the business owners are suffering. The second article used a photo of the politicians; however, I think that it is quite an irrelevant image for the story. The story depicts a serious and deplorable situation, and it does not correspond to the photo of smiling politicians. Thus, I think that the image does not strengthen the story. However, the subtext might be the idea of the lack of responsibility in mentioned politicians. Two articles are written on a similar topic; however, they are referring to different problems. The first article assesses the situation of the private business owners, and the second article analyses the consequences of the policies carried out by the politicians.